Wireless location assisted zone guidance system

ABSTRACT

A look-up table is defined by at least one reference point, and rows and columns that are offset from the reference. The table rows and columns correspond to ordinate and abscissa data points representing geographic locations. Each data point offset in the table corresponds to a predefined geographic offset. The look-up table contains machine-stored values at each table location, with each value representing a particular one of several guidance zones. The real-time determination of the guidance zone is made by first determining present location using GPS or other wireless location signals. The corresponding table location is identified by calculating latitudinal and longitudinal offsets from a reference point, and using these offsets as the two indices to access a double-indexed array. The value retrieved from the indexed array identifies the guidance zone. Each guidance zone has an associated set of characteristics used to provide behavioral guidance to an animal.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 15/433,826 filedFeb. 15, 2017 and granted on Oct. 24, 2017 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,795,118,which in turn is a Continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 14/217,390 filed Mar.17, 2014 and presently co-pending herewith, which in turn claims thebenefit under 35 USC 119(e) of U.S. provisional 61/801,509, filed Mar.15, 2013, the contents and teachings of each which are incorporatedherein by reference in entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

This invention pertains generally to electrical communications, and moreparticularly to condition responsive indicating systems with radio linkand including personal portable device for tracking location. Thecondition responsive indicating systems of the present invention monitorthe specific condition of humans or animals. In one preferredmanifestation, a fully self-contained collar designed in accord with theteachings of the present invention monitors the location of a pet suchas a dog, and provides well-defined and primarily positive stimulus totrain the pet to stay within a predetermined area.

2. Description of the Related Art

Dogs are well-known as “man's best friend” owing to the many beneficialservices that they provide. However, and likely since mankind firstbefriended dogs, there has existed a need to control the territory thata dog has access to. There are many reasons that motivate this need,many which may be relatively unique to a particular dog or owner andothers that are far more universal.

Irrespective of the reason, there have been limited ways to exert thiscontrol over a dog. One method is a fixed containment structure such asa fence or building. As may be apparent, such structures are typicallyexpensive and time consuming to install, and necessarily static inlocation. In other words, they are only useful at the location wherethey are constructed, and so are of no value when a pet and ownertravel. Furthermore, these static structures often interfere in otherways with other activities of the dog owner, such as with lawn care orinterfering with the owner's movement about a property. In addition, thedog may find ways to bypass the structure, such as by digging under afence or slipping through a not-quite completely secured gate.

A second approach to controlling accessible territory is through acombination collar and leash or similar restraint. The leash is anchoredto a fixed point, or in the best of situations, to a line or cable alongwhich the dog can travel. Unfortunately, most dogs are notoriously badat untangling or unwrapping a leash from a fixed object. Consequently,dogs tend to tangle the leash about trees, posts and other objects, andcan become completely unable to move. If the owner is not aware that thedog has become tangled, this can lead to dangerous situations in casessuch as extreme weather or when the dog has been left unattended for anextended period.

Additionally, some dogs are very good at escaping the leash, such as bybacking away from the leash and using the leash force to slip off thecollar, or by chewing through the leash. Once again, if the owner isunaware, the dog may travel from the desired area into other unsuitableareas such as roadways and the like. This may put both dog and humans injeopardy, such as when a vehicle swerves to avoid the dog or when a doghas a temperament not suited to the general human population.

The leash also necessarily defines the region in which the dog maytravel. For exemplary purposes, with a ground stake and a leash the dogis constrained to a circle. In this example, the owner will typicallydefine the circle to the smallest radius that the dog may desirablytravel within. As can be understood, for all but circularly limitedareas, this leads to a great deal of space that the dog cannot access,but which would otherwise be suitable for the dog.

In consideration of the limitations of static structures and leashes,various artisans have proposed vary beneficial further techniques thatprovide more flexibility and capability, such as buried or above groundtransmitter antennas and radio collars that either detect the crossingof a buried line or detect the reception or absence of reception of asignal broadcast by the transmitter antenna. These systems remove thephysical link between dog and a static structure, meaning the dog willnot get tangled in obstacles when moving about. Further, in the case ofa buried line, the line may follow any geometry of land, and so is notlimited to a circular pattern limited by a particular radius.

Unfortunately, burying a line can be difficult or impossible if thereare other objects, such as irrigation systems, buried utility lines,landscaping, hard surfaces, trees, or other fixed objects. Additionally,current soil conditions such as frozen soil or snow covered ground inthe winter may also limit the ability to bury the line. Radio systemsare also well known to be significantly affected by static and otherforms of Electro-Magnetic Interference or Radio-Frequency Interference(EMI-RFI). Consequently, a dog may be shocked or otherwise punishedwithout basis or appropriate reason. As is known in the field ofpsychology, this random punishment can literally destroy the training ofa dog, and may lead to erratic or wanton misbehavior. This problem isalso very location dependent, meaning that there are places where thereis so much EMI-RFI that a radio system is completely unusable. As aresult of the inability to completely eliminate or substantiallyeradicate the effects of EMI-RFI, the use of these radio systems is farfrom universal. Instead, many dog owners continue to rely upon staticstructures or leashes to control the territory accessible by their dog.

With the advent and substantial advancement of Global PositioningSystems (GPS), presently primarily used for navigation, artisans haverecognized the opportunity to incorporate GPS technology into petcontainment. Several systems have been proposed in the literature fordecades, but these systems have not as yet become commercially viable.

One significant limitation of prior art GPS systems is the accuracy ofthe system. Accuracy can be dependent upon variables such as atmosphericvariations, signal reflections and signal loss due to obstacles, andvariability intentionally introduced into the system. Similarvariability is found in various radio and cellular locating systems.

A GPS or similar navigation system that is accurate to plus or minus tenmeters is very adequate for navigational purposes, for example to guidea person to a commercial building for a meeting or for other commerce.However, for pet containment this level of accuracy is completelyunacceptable. For exemplary purposes, many residential yards are fortyfeet wide, or approximately 10 meters. A system that is only accurate toplus or minus ten meters might try to locate the dog in eitherneighbor's yard, depending upon the system on any given day.

Another limitation is the amount of calculation required to determinewhether the pet is within a selected area of containment. Prior art GPSsystems use nodes to define the perimeter, and then mathematicallycalculate where the pet is relative to the nodes. Unfortunately, thisrequires a substantial amount of computation, which increases greatly asthe number of nodes are increased. As a result, these systems commonlyrely upon a primary processing system that is remote from the dog, towhich the dog's collar is coupled via radio waves or the like. Thispermits the primary processing system to perform calculations and thenrelay results or control signals back to the collar. Undesirably, thisalso adds complexity, drains precious battery power limiting the usablecollar time, and again makes the containment system dependent uponconventional radio communications systems. In addition, the need forboth the collar and a secondary base station makes the system far lessportable. This means, for example, that taking the dog from home to apark is impractical.

A further limitation of the prior art is battery life. A collar thatmust be removed and recharged every few hours is unacceptable for mostpurposes. Unfortunately, the intensive computations required by priorart systems either requires a fast and consequently higher powerprocessor unit, or a communications link such as a radio link to a basestation. While the collar unit may transmit data back to the base unitto avoid the need for complex computational ability, even thetransmission of position information and reception of collar actionsrequires a reasonably powered radio. It will be apparent thatwalkie-talkies, cell phones and other hand-held radio devices all havevery large batteries to provide adequate transmission and receptionlife, and yet these devices often only support several hours ofcommunications. As can be appreciated, size and weight are severelyrestricted for a device fully self-contained on a dog's collar, and theinclusion of a large battery is undesirable.

The following patents and published patent applications are believed tobe exemplary of the most relevant prior art, and the teachings andcontents of each are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No.4,393,448 by Dunn et al, entitled “Navigational plotting system”; U.S.Pat. No. 4,590,569 by Rogoff et al, entitled “Navigation systemincluding an integrated electronic chart display”; U.S. Pat. No.4,611,209 by Lemelson et al, entitled “Navigation warning system andmethod”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,000 by Eberhardt, entitled “Automaticguided vehicle system”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,782 by BeVan, entitled“Fixed curved path waypoint transition for aircraft”; U.S. Pat. No.5,067,441 by Weinstein, entitled “Electronic assembly for restrictinganimals to defined areas”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,341 by Gouard et al,entitled “System for sea navigation or traffic control/assistance”; U.S.Pat. No. 5,351,653 by Marischen et al, entitled “Animal training methodusing positive and negative audio stimuli”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,744 byCuster, entitled “Animal control apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,511 byHatano et al, entitled “Position monitoring for communicable anduncommunicable mobile stations”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,129 by Boardman,entitled “Wireless pet containment system”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,934 byKass, entitled “Portable locating system”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,956 byQuigley, entitled “Method and apparatus for controlling animals withelectronic fencing”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,329 by Tanner, entitled“Vehicle location method and system”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,119 bySchipper et al, entitled “Arrestee monitoring with variable siteboundaries”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,904 by Ben-Yair et al, entitled “Aircombat monitoring system and methods and apparatus useful therefor”;U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,425 by Ladner et al, entitled “Locator device”; U.S.Pat. No. 5,751,612 by Donovan et al, entitled “System and method foraccurate and efficient geodetic database retrieval”; U.S. Pat. No.5,791,294 by Manning, entitled “Position and physiological datamonitoring and control system for animal herding”; U.S. Pat. No.5,857,433 by Files, entitled “Animal training and tracking device havingglobal positioning satellite unit”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,100 by Marsh,entitled “Fenceless animal control system using GPS locationinformation”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,199 by Farkas et al, entitled“Pressure sensitive animal training device”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,350 byGirard et al, entitled “Location method and apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No.6,043,748 by Touchton et al, entitled “Satellite relay collar andprogrammable electronic boundary system for the containment of animals”;U.S. Pat. No. 6,114,957 by Westrick et al, entitled “Pet locatorsystem”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,640 by Durst et al, entitled “Pet locator”;U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,880 by Anderson et al, entitled “Animal controlsystem using global positioning and instrumental animal conditioning”;U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,916 by Grillo et al, entitled “GPS restraint systemand method for confining a subject within a defined area”; U.S. Pat. No.6,236,358 by Durst et al, entitled “Mobile object locator”; U.S. Pat.No. 6,263,836 by Hollis, entitled “Dog behavior monitoring and trainingapparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,757 by Touchton et al, entitled“Satellite animal containment system with programmable Boundaries”; U.S.Pat. No. 6,313,791 by Klanke, entitled “Automotive GPS control system”;U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,001 by Durst et al, entitled “Object locator”; U.S.Pat. No. 6,441,778 by Durst et al, entitled “Pet locator”; U.S. Pat. No.6,480,147 by Durst et al, entitled “Portable position determiningdevice”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,487,992 by Hollis, entitled “Dog behaviormonitoring and training apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,518,919 by Durst etal, entitled “Mobile object locator”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,137 by Oakman,entitled “Portable electronic multi-sensory animal containment andtracking device”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,546 by Dalland et al, entitled“Animal containment system having a dynamically changing perimeter”;U.S. Pat. No. 6,700,492 by Touchton et al, entitled “Satellite animalcontainment system with programmable boundaries”; U.S. Pat. No.6,748,902 by Boesch et al, entitled “System and method for training ofanimals”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,903,682 by Maddox, entitled “DGPS animalcontainment system”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,146 by Kobitz et al, entitled“Method and apparatus for training and for constraining a subject to aspecific area”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,034,695 by Troxler, entitled “Large areaposition/proximity correction device with alarms using (D)GPStechnology”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,259,718 by Patterson et al, entitled“Apparatus and method for keeping pets in a defined boundary havingexclusion areas”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,328,671 by Kates, entitled “System andmethod for computer-controlled animal toy”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,677,204 byJames, entitled “Dog training device”; U.S. Pat. No. 8,155,871 by Lohiet al, entitled “Method, device, device arrangement and computer programfor tracking a moving object”; 2007/0204804 by Swanson et al, entitled“GPS pet containment system and method”; and 2008/0252527 by Garcia,entitled “Method and apparatus for acquiring local position andoverlaying information”; and EP 0699330 and WO 94/27268 by Taylor,entitled “GPS Explorer”.

In addition to the foregoing, Webster's New Universal UnabridgedDictionary, Second Edition copyright 1983, is incorporated herein byreference in entirety for the definitions of words and terms usedherein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first manifestation, the invention is a wireless location assistedzone guidance system adapted to assist in the training and management ofan animal. The system includes a collar, a wireless locationdetermination apparatus, at least one animal stimulation apparatuscarried by the collar, a processor coupled to the wireless locationdetermination apparatus and operative to receive latitude and longitudeinformation therefrom, memory accessible by the processor, a humaninterface, and a plurality of guidance zones defined using the latitudeand longitude information. Each one of the plurality of guidance zoneshas an associated unique set of characteristics used by the processor toprovide behavioral guidance stimulation to the animal through the animalstimulation apparatus. The improvement comprises a data table stored inthe memory as a two-dimensional array having an ordinate and abscissa, afirst one of the ordinate and abscissa corresponding to longitude and asecond one of the ordinate and abscissa corresponding to latitude, witheach value stored in the data table identifying a one of the pluralityof guidance zones.

In a second manifestation, the invention is a method of storingbehavioral guidance zone indicia in a double-indexed array having a pairof indices in electronically accessible memory and electronicallyretrieving behavioral modification actions associated with a currentgeographic location. In accord with the method, a first one of thedouble-indexed array indices is electronically associated to alatitudinal offset from a geographic reference point. A second one ofthe indices is electronically associated to a longitudinal offset fromthe geographic reference point. A value is stored at each individualarray location representing a single behavioral guidance zone selectedfrom a plurality of distinct behavioral guidance zones. A unique set ofbehavioral processes associated with each one of the plurality ofdistinct behavioral guidance zones is stored in electronicallyaccessible memory. The current geographic location is represented bylatitude and longitude points. A latitudinal offset and a longitudinaloffset between the current geographic location and the geographicreference point are electronically determined. The stored valuerepresenting the single behavioral guidance zone is electronicallyretrieved from an individual array location defined by the latitudinaloffset and the longitudinal offset. The unique set of behavioralprocesses associated with the stored value is electronically retrieved.

In a third manifestation, the invention is a wireless location assistedzone guidance system adapted to assist in the training and management ofan animal. The system comprises a wireless location determinationapparatus; and at least one animal stimulation apparatus. A processor iscoupled to the wireless location determination apparatus and operativeto receive latitude and longitude information therefrom and coupled tothe at least one animal stimulation apparatus and adapted to operativelycontrol a generation of stimulation. Memory is coupled with andaccessible by the processor. A human interface is adapted to operativelyenable selective control over the processor. A data table is stored inthe memory as a two-dimensional array having a first index adapted tooperatively represent an ordinate and having a second index adapted tooperatively represent an abscissa. A plurality of geographically definedguidance zones are operatively stored in the data table, a first one ofthe ordinate and abscissa corresponding to longitude and a second one ofthe ordinate and abscissa corresponding to latitude, respectively, witheach value stored in the data table identifying a one of the pluralityof geographically defined guidance zones. The processor is adapted tooperatively receive latitude and longitude information from the wirelesslocation determination apparatus, retrieve a value stored in a locationin the data table using the longitude information as the first arrayindex and latitude information as the second array index, and use theretrieved value to determine a one of the plurality of guidance zonesthat the latitude and longitude information from the wireless locationdetermination apparatus is associated with, and provide behavioralguidance stimulation to the animal through the animal stimulationapparatus responsive thereto.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention solve inadequacies of theprior art by providing a look-up table. In a most preferred embodimentof the invention, the table is defined by rows and columns that aremapped to ordinate and abscissa data points representing predefinedgeographic locations. Each data point offset in the table corresponds toa predefined geographic offset. Each data point in the table stores avalue indicative of a particular one of several guidance zones. Eachguidance zone has an associated set of characteristics used to providebehavioral guidance to an animal. The determination of the guidance zoneis made by determination of the present location using GPS or equivalentsignals. Identification of the corresponding table location is made bycalculating the latitudinal and longitudinal offsets from a referencepoint, and using these offsets as the two indices for a double-indexedarray. The value retrieved from the double-indexed array identifies theguidance zone. Based upon either or both of collar location history andthe desirability value returned from the table, a variety of actions maybe triggered within the collar, such as providing appropriate positiveor negative stimulus.

To further improve the accuracy of determination of present location, aposition freshly determined through satellite or radio fixing iscompared to one or more recently determined and stored historicalpositions. Depending upon parameters selected at design time, if animpossible jump in position has occurred, or alternatively if a highlyunlikely jump in position has occurred, the freshly determined positionmay be discarded, and a new position determined again. Consequently,momentary erratic reception which is known to occur in positiondetermination systems will be discarded and will not disrupt theaccuracy. This can be vital to the quality of animal behavior training.

The present invention and the preferred and alternative embodiments havebeen developed with a number of objectives in mind. While not all ofthese objectives are found in or required of every embodiment, theseobjectives nevertheless provide a sense of the general intent and themany possible benefits that are available from ones of the variousembodiments of the present invention.

A first object of the invention is to provide a safe and humaneapparatus for modifying the behavior of a pet. From the descriptionsprovided herein and the teachings incorporated by reference hereinabove, it will be apparent that the present invention may also beapplied in certain instances to humans, livestock or other animals. Asecond object of the invention is to provide a fully self-containedapparatus that will determine location and provide stimulus based uponthat location for extended periods of operation. As a corollary, thefully self-contained apparatus is preferably operational withuniversally available location systems, including but not limited tosatellite GPS, cellular telephone triangulation systems, and radiotriangulation system such as Loran, but may alternatively be providedwith a custom location system if so desired. By using universallyavailable location systems, there is no limit on the locations where theapparatus may be used. Another object of the present invention is toenable simple and efficient set-up and operation by a person. A furtherobject of the invention is to efficiently and expeditiously train a pet,to significantly reduce training time and increase the effectiveness ofthe training. As a corollary, embodiments of the present invention willpreferably provide the effective animal training while preserving thespirit and positive attitude of the animal Yet another object of thepresent invention is to enable a person to set an acceptable area or“safe zone” using only the self-contained apparatus, and to adjust orredefine the area again by simple manipulation of the self-containedapparatus. An additional object of the invention is to enable theself-contained apparatus to automatically generate a number of zonesthat facilitate positive training and behavior modification, and therebyguide a pet or other living being appropriately.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, advantages, and novel features of thepresent invention can be understood and appreciated by reference to thefollowing detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art property such as might be mapped inaccord with the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a map of numerical values visually overlaid onto andelectronically associated with the property of FIG. 1, in accord withthe teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates the map of numerical values of FIG. 2, but absent theproperty illustrations.

FIG. 4 illustrates the map of numerical values of FIG. 3, divided intofour distinct tiles and including a latitude and longitude referencepoint associated with each tile.

FIG. 5 illustrates the upper left tile or quadrant taken from the map ofnumerical values of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In a preferred embodiment designed in accord with the teachings of thepresent invention, a pet owner might want to train a pet to stay withinan example property such as that illustrated in prior art FIG. 1. Anouter limit of the property 2 may encompass one or more buildings 3, adriveway 4, and a mailbox 5. If, for exemplary purposes, the pet is orwill be trained to walk with the owner to the mailbox, or to retrievethe newspaper from adjacent to the mailbox, then the owner may wish toprovide a small peninsula 6 which could extend beyond the bounds of theparticular property location.

A self-contained collar apparatus, which might for exemplary purposesand not solely limiting thereto resemble that illustrated by Swanson etal in 2007/0204804 and incorporated by reference herein above, willcontain the necessary electronic components such as illustrated in theSwanson et al FIG. 5, including components to receive and decipherlocation determining signals and also explicitly containing bothvolatile and non-volatile memory. In the preferred embodiment, thelocation determining signals are converted to latitude and longitudereferences, though any suitable coordinate reference representative of ageographic area may be used. Switches and a display will also preferablybe provided, again such as illustrated in the Swanson et al publishedpatent application, to allow a person to interact with the collarapparatus. Other requisite components, both as described in Swanson etal and as will be understood from the following description, will alsobe provided therein.

To establish a new area, a person will interact with the self-containedcollar apparatus switches or other suitable input apparatus to identifythat a new area is to be recorded. Next, the person will transport theself-contained collar apparatus around the perimeter of the land area,such as by following outer limit 2. During this traverse of the outerlimit 2, the self-contained collar apparatus will record discretelocation points which have been traversed, and add those to a tablestored in a memory within the collar. Once the outer limit 2 has beentraversed, the person will again interact with the self-contained collarapparatus to identify that the outer limit has been traversed, or, if soenabled, the collar will automatically detect that an area has beencompletely circumscribed.

Next, the micro-controller or other suitable processor will preferablyautomatically convert this outer limit 2 into a table 10 of values sucha illustrated for exemplary purposes in FIG. 2. While the numerals 0-3are used therein for the purposes of the present illustration, anysuitable designations, whether numeric or not, may be used. As but oneexample, the numerals 0-3 represent four choices, and so may easily berepresented by two bits of data. In such case, the possible combinationsare binary 00, 01, 10, and 11. While FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate anexemplary outline of an area that the pet owner might wish to contain adog within, which is a subset of the total property, the area can be ofany geometry, and in the example is somewhat irregular.

In the preferred embodiment, a number of different zones are definedbased upon the traversal of outer limit 2 during initial setup. The areabeyond outer limit 2 is defined by an “out-of-bounds” zone 11represented by a numerical value of zero at each discrete location.Immediately inside of the zero-value locations is a zone of locationsassigned a numerical value of one. This will be referred to herein asthe “warning zone” 12. Between “out-of-bounds” zone 11 and “warningzone” 12 in FIG. 2, a dashed line 13 has been drawn for illustrativepurposes. This line does not actually exist in the stored data table,but instead helps to better illustrate the various zones that aredefined by the various location values.

A plurality of discrete locations relatively inward from the warningzone 12 are assigned a numerical value of two, and represent an “alertzone” 14. Again, for the purpose of illustration only, a dashed line 15is shown separating alert zone 14 from warning zone 12. Again, and likeline 13, this line 15 does not actually exist in the stored data table,and is provided solely for illustrative purposes.

Finally, an innermost “safe zone” 16 preferably intentionallyencompasses the largest area of all zones and is populated with discretelocation values assigned to equal the numerical value of three. Dashedline 17, like lines 13 and 15, indicates the separate zones, but doesnot exist in the stored data table.

As is evident when comparing FIGS. 1 and 2, line 13 correspondsapproximately to outer limit 2. Due to the discrete nature of theresolution of the particular position determining system, such as a GPSsystem, the points defined during the traversal of outer limit 2 may ormay not exactly correspond to the land location. In addition, since theouter limit 2 may not be linear, and may instead include a number ofirregularities such as peninsula 21 and slightly cropped corners 23 and26, the data points more interior but generally adjacent to theseirregularities will have variability in their associated geometriesrelative to that of the outer limit 2. So, and again for exemplarypurposes, peninsula 21 is too narrow to provide for the as-illustratedexemplary two data point width provided for each zone. Nevertheless,there is a single data point of numerical value 2 protruding atreference numeral 22 illustrated in FIG. 3. Consequently, as outer limit2 was traversed at set-up, a dog can reach the base of mail box 5, whichis located at this single data point of numerical value 2 at referencenumeral 22, without receiving a warning stimulus. Nevertheless, the dogwill still receive an alert stimulus such as a vibration. Similarly, theintricacies of notched corner 26 are lost as the corner becomes a simplesquare corner at reference numeral 27 of FIG. 3. Likewise, the elaboratestepping of cropped corner 23 fades some to simpler corner 24, andbecomes a very simple single curve at more interior corner 25.

Also strictly for the purpose of illustration, and not limiting theinvention solely thereto, two GPS location points are used as the widthof each of the alert and warning zones. Consequently, in the embodimentas illustrated, each of these alert and warning zones are calculated tobe approximately two GPS points in width. It will be understood hereinthat the width of the zones may be predetermined to be more or less thanthe exemplary and illustrated two data points. Furthermore, the numberof zones may be varied from the three zones that are illustrated.

While most of the zone areas are, in fact, two data points wide, thewidth of the zones at sharp transition points, such as corners, may begreater or less than two data points in width. The particular decisionsfor how to shape interior zones will be determined by algorithms chosenor written by a designer at design time. Furthermore, there may be timeswhere the assisted guidance zone takes on a very irregular shape,forming a narrow peninsula between two larger safe zones. When there isnot sufficient room for the predetermined number of zone location pints,such as within peninsula 21 of FIGS. 1 and 2, in the preferredembodiment the data point calculations begin with the warning zone valuefirst.

As may be apparent, a person may choose where to traverse in order tocontrol the formation of various zones. As another example, a persontrying to create a larger buffer adjacent a high traffic road would,when setting up the collar zones, simply walk an outer limit fartherfrom the edge of the road. This maintains more consistent zone widths,which is believed to offer better training for an animal than varyingthe width of the zones. Nevertheless, and alternatively, it iscontemplated herein to allow a person the ability to vary the width ofzones to correspond with various objects or hazards such as fences,gardens, and roadways.

FIG. 3 illustrates the data table representation of the land area ofFIG. 1, but without the land features shown. FIG. 3 simply shows thelatitudinal and longitudinal plot of the shape of the assisted guidancezones, as defined by the numerical values stored in the data table. Inaccord with the present invention, a latitude and longitude land map isconverted to and saved as an X-Y plot or table of points, where one axis(in this case the rows) represents latitude and the other axis (in thiscase as illustrated, the columns) represents longitude. Each point isthen assigned a numerical value that is representative of a zone withinthe assisted guidance area.

These points may for exemplary purposes and in accord with the preferredembodiment, correspond to specific points of geographic latitude andlongitude determined to a particular degree of resolution. The degree ofresolution may typically be the limit of precision available for aparticular location system, such as six decimals of precision in a GPSsystem. So, as represented in FIG. 4, the latitude and longituderepresentations are presented to six decimal precision, though othersuitable levels of precision are considered incorporated herein.

In this illustration of FIG. 4, reference point 41 may for examplerepresent a point at 44.925866 degrees latitude, and −92.940617longitude. Reference point 42 may represent a point at 44.925673 degreeslatitude, and −92.940617 longitude. Reference point 43 may be used torepresent a point at 44.925673 degrees latitude, and −92.940160longitude. Reference point 44 may be used to represent a point at44.925866 degrees latitude, and −92.940160 longitude. While asillustrated these reference points 41-44 are shown slightly offset fromand intermediate between the various data points, they may instead beselected to correspond exactly to a particular data point in the table.

As may be appreciated, for a given degree of latitude and longituderesolution, the larger a tile is, the more memory is required to storethe tile. In other words, if the resolution were representative of fivefoot increments across the surface of the earth, it would only taketwenty of these increments to cover a one hundred foot propertyboundary. For a square property of 100 feet by 100 feet, there wouldonly be a total of 400 data points within the outer boundary. Even withthe inclusion of data points outside of the boundary, this zone couldeasily be mapped with a thousand data point tile.

In contrast, a large property such as a large ranch, farm, park or thelike could, using this same five foot resolution, require more than onemillion points to map. As may be appreciated, this requires one thousandtimes the tile size to save the entire map zone within a single tile inmemory, or one thousand times the available memory.

Storage of the data table requires memory, and a suitable electronicsystem within the collar will not be provided with unlimited memorywithin which to store data points. In accord with a preferred embodimentof the system, the memory will be divided into some combination ofslower non-volatile memory and relatively faster but volatile RAM. Theslower, non-volatile memory for exemplary but non-limiting purposesmight comprise well-known flash memory. If the device uses higher speedmemory such as RAM to reduce operation time, and there are more datapoints than available space in RAM to store the table, the preferredembodiment processor will analyze the table and set up one or more tilesin RAM to be used during system operation.

To cover the exemplary property of FIG. 1, the numerical representationof FIG. 4 incorporates a total of four distinct “tiles” or squares thatcontain these numerical representations. FIG. 5 provides a zoomed-inview of only one of these four tiles, the top left tile of FIG. 4. Usingthis preferred numerical representation substantially reduces thecalculations required when compared to the prior art.

In exemplary operation, the latitude-longitude location of a dog isdetermined through the GPS system as is known in the field ofnavigation. This is then used to determine which tile, plurality oftiles, or single numerical representation is required to determine theposition of the dog. If the tile containing the particular latitude andlongitude is not already loaded into RAM, then it will be loaded. Thisdetermination will be easily made by comparing the current latitude andlongitude to the reference points such as points 41-44 to select theappropriate tile(s). Then, preferably and for exemplary purposes, asimple RAM access may be made, where the RAM memory location iscalculated based upon the present latitude and longitude offset from thelower-left latitude and longitude found on the numerical representationtile. This lower-left corner may be understood to be the referencelocation for the tile, such as reference point 41 in the illustration ofFIG. 5. While any point within a tile may be used as a referencelocation, the lower-left is illustrated for exemplary purposes.

The offset determination is a simple subtraction of the referencelocation, such as reference point 41 of FIG. 5, from the currentlydetermined location. Then, this difference is used as the table index,to directly address the particular table location. In the preferredembodiment, each data point is stored in memory using a double-indexedarray, with each of the two indices of the array uniquely representingone of the latitudinal or longitudinal offset from the reference point.For exemplary purposes, this may be written asArrayName[latitude-offset] [longitude-offset]. Each unique[latitude-offset] [longitude-offset] may for exemplary purposes point toa unique location in memory where the zone value associated with thatgeographic location is stored.

In an alternative embodiment, the offset may be additionally convertedin a proportional or scalar calculation, where a particular number ofdegrees of latitude, for example, are known to equal one data pointshift to the right in the table. This requires storing the scalarconversion and an extra scalar calculation to look up the data value fora location, both which may be undesirable.

Once the offset is calculated, then the memory location is queried andthe contents of the memory are returned in the form of a numerical valuefrom 0-3, the meaning which represents whether the dog is comfortablywithin the safe zone (“3” in the preferred embodiment), or is in thealert, warn or out-of-bounds zones. After GPS location is determined,the only calculation required during operation of the dog collar todetermine whether the collar is within the assisted guidance zone is thecalculation of offset in latitude and longitude from the reference pointin the lower left corner of the tile. This is a very rapid and easycalculation, followed by a near-instantaneous read of the memorycontents. In the preferred embodiment then, all numerical representationcalculations are performed at the time the outer limit is defined, andthen these numerical representation tiles are saved, preferably innon-volatile memory such as within EEPROM, flash memory, or equivalentstorage.

The procedure used to clear a map from memory is also quite simple inthe preferred embodiment. Once the user selects the map to delete, theassociated tiles in memory are simply rewritten to numerical values ofzero.

When the collar is in use for pet containment, the numericalrepresentation tiles may be swapped into and out of active memory asrequired. This means that storage of diverse locations does not requirestorage of every location in between. So, for example, storage of twodistinct one acre maps on opposite sides of the earth does not requirestoring millions of acres of maps. Instead, only those tiles associatedwith a latitude and longitude actually used by a map are required to bestored in memory. Again, while the use of tiles is not essential to theoperation of the present invention, the ability to create these tilesmeans that with only very modest amounts of memory and processingcapability, the present invention may be used to map one or a pluralityof assisted guidance areas literally anywhere on earth.

A number of other features may also desirably or optionally beincorporated into a preferred embodiment pet assisted guidance system.Using the teachings of the present invention, the collar may be designedto contain an entire and independent pet assisted guidance system. Inother words, no additional components would need to be purchased oracquired, nor is there a need for any other external device other thanthe GPS satellites. The collar will preferably interact directly withGPS signals received from GPS satellites, and may for enablement use acommercially available set of components to determine latitude andlongitude.

When desired, a remote control interface or external device may also beprovided, but such device is preferably not mandatory. Where such aninterface is provided, assisted guidance areas may also be communicatedthat are calculated without requiring a person to first walk theperimeter. While not solely limited thereto, this can be particularlyhelpful at popular places such as at dog parks or other public placesthat might be frequented by many pet owners. In such case, a map alreadycreated for the park will be provided and may, for exemplary purposes,be downloaded to the collar. Additionally, with such an interface a usermight draw an assisted guidance area perimeter or even various zones ona map and transmit them to the collar.

As aforementioned, there will preferably be multiple zones in theassisted guidance area such as the “safe”, “alert” and “warning” zonesto train and shape the behavior of a pet. For exemplary purposes, acomforting stimulus may be provided at particular intervals to assure orreassure a dog within the safe zone 16. Furthermore, such stimulus maybe timed in accord with activity of the dog, such as when the dog ismoving about and remaining within safe zone 16. For exemplary purposesand not solely limiting thereto, a comforting tone or recorded soundsuch as the owner's voice saying “good dog” may be periodicallygenerated. In one embodiment contemplated herein, the velocity of thedog, including direction and speed, will also be calculated. In theevent there is a danger of the dog moving outside of the safe zone, thecomforting stimulus may be withheld, until the dog is confirmed to beremaining in safe zone 16.

The alert zone 14 assigned with a numeric value of “2” may be used togenerate a vibration which is preferably very distinct from thecomforting tone or “good dog” recording of safe zone 16. This willpreferably gently alert the dog of the transition out of safe zone 16and to the need to return thereto.

The warning zone 12 assigned with a numeric value of “1” may be used totrigger an electrical stimulation. Most preferably, this electricalstimulation will be provided through a set of probes using thetechnology such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,677,204 incorporatedby reference herein above, which is considered to be a most humanemethod of application. Nevertheless, and while much less preferable,other known techniques for electrical stimulation will be consideredherein as alternative embodiments. In the warning zone, this stimulationmay be relatively mild or medium stimulation.

Finally, a numeric value of “0” designates a point outside of thewarning zone. In this case, initially the dog may be stimulated with astronger electrical stimulation. However, this stimulation will mostpreferably not continue indefinitely, which will be recognized to bequite aversive. Instead, the dog will preferably receive input similarto that which would be provided by a skilled trainer if the trainer werethere in person and controlling the collar unit. In the foregoingdescription, time is described as one factor for calculating when todiscontinue electrical stimulation. Preferably, in addition to time, thedirection of travel of the dog will also be considered. As soon as thedog starts moving towards the safe zone, stimulation will bediscontinued irrespective of time outside of the safe zone.

This allows appropriate pet behavior to be rewarded, thereby improvingtraining effectiveness and success. Nevertheless, the present inventionis not solely limited to a particular number of zones, or a particularway to represent those zones. The numerical representations from zero tothree are preferred, but any other representations that may be machinestored are contemplated herein.

Desirably, the accuracy of the GPS determinations may be significantlyimproved by incorporating a loosely coupled inertial navigation systeminto the collar. The inertial navigation system may then be used tovalidate GPS readings, and may also be used to discard outlier positioninfo such as might be produced sporadically. For exemplary purposes,when an inertial system indicates no movement of the dog and a GPS orequivalent determination indicates a sudden multi-meter jump, then thedata point indicative of a sudden multi-meter jump can be discarded orignored.

An inertial system or biometric system may also optionally be used topre-alert dog state and predict sudden location changes. This can beused to be more pre-emptive at alerting or warning the dog of impendingboundaries. Exemplary biometric indicators might be heart or respirationrate, while a sudden head lifting or movement is an exemplary inertialindicator.

Inertial, biometric and location-based indicators may further be used tocontrol the frequency of position calculation, which in turn is relatedto the average power consumption and battery life. So, for exemplarypurposes, if the collar is in a dwelling, the GPS may be deactivated.Similarly, if inertial and/or biometric indicators suggest that the dogis sleeping, sampling rate may be substantially less frequent, if atall, until the dog wakes up. Additionally, when the dog is within thesafe zone, the sampling rate may also be less frequent.

While the preferred embodiment table 10 has been described herein abovefor the purposes of enablement as cooperative with a self-containedcollar apparatus such as that illustrated by Swanson et al in2007/0204804, it should be apparent that the table 10 incorporatingdiscrete values representative of various zones may be used with otherapparatus such as found in many other patents incorporated herein byreference above and other systems, as will be understood and appreciatedby those skilled in the art.

Consequently, while the foregoing details what is felt to be thepreferred embodiment of the invention, no material limitations to thescope of the claimed invention are intended. The variants that would bepossible from a reading of the present disclosure are too many in numberfor individual listings herein, though they are understood to beincluded in the present invention. Further, features and designalternatives that would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the artare considered to be incorporated herein. The scope of the invention isset forth and particularly described in the claims herein below.

We claim:
 1. A wireless location assisted zone guidance system adaptedto assist in the training and management of an animal, having a collar,a wireless location determination apparatus configured to generate acurrent latitude and current longitude of a current geographic locationof said collar, at least one animal stimulation apparatus carried bysaid collar, a processor coupled to said wireless location determinationapparatus and operative to receive said current latitude and saidcurrent longitude information therefrom, memory accessible by saidprocessor, a human interface, and a plurality of guidance zones definedusing said latitude and longitude information, each one of saidplurality of guidance zones having an associated unique set ofcharacteristics used by said processor to provide behavioral guidancestimulation to said animal through said animal stimulation apparatus,wherein the improvement comprises: a data table that is stored in saidmemory, has a pair of indices, and contains a plurality of uniquelocations within said data table that are populated with a plurality ofguidance zone values; a first one of said pair of indices correspondingto longitude; a second one of said pair of indices corresponding to saidlatitude; said pair of indices in combination identifying a single oneof said plurality of unique locations within said data table; each oneof said plurality of unique locations within said data table that isalso within a one of said plurality of assisted guidance zones storingan individual one of said plurality of guidance zone values; individualones of said guidance zone values stored in said data table identifyingindividual ones of said plurality of guidance zones, wherein saidprocessor is configured to retrieve a guidance zone value stored in saiddata table at a single data table location defined by a first indexvalue corresponding with said current longitude and a second index valuecorresponding with said current latitude and use said associated uniqueset of characteristics to provide behavioral guidance stimulation tosaid animal through said animal stimulation apparatus.
 2. The wirelesslocation assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the trainingand management of an animal of claim 1, further comprising a pluralityof tiles of two-dimensional data, each one of said plurality of tilesrepresentative of unique geographic latitude and longitude locations;wherein each one of said plurality of tiles of two-dimensional datafurther comprises a reference location corresponding to a specificgeographic latitude and longitude; and wherein said processor is adaptedto operatively selectively load a unique one of said plurality of tilesof two-dimensional data into said memory responsive to reception by saidprocessor of latitude and longitude information from said wirelesslocation determination apparatus and responsive to comparison by saidprocessor of said received latitude and longitude information with saidtile reference locations.
 3. The wireless location assisted zoneguidance system adapted to assist in the training and management of ananimal of claim 2, wherein said memory further comprises volatile memoryand non-volatile memory, and only a one of said plurality of tiles isstored in said volatile memory at a time, while all others of saidplurality of tiles remain solely in said non-volatile memory.
 4. Thewireless location assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in thetraining and management of an animal of claim 1, wherein said data tableis stored in said memory as a double-indexed array.
 5. The wirelesslocation assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the trainingand management of an animal of claim 1, wherein said wireless locationdetermination apparatus, said processor, and said memory are local tosaid collar.
 6. The wireless location assisted zone guidance systemadapted to assist in the training and management of an animal of claim1, wherein said processor is configured responsive to said retrievedguidance zone value to select a single one of said associated unique setof characteristics used by said processor to provide behavioral guidancestimulation to said animal through said animal stimulation apparatus. 7.The wireless location assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist inthe training and management of an animal of claim 1, wherein saidplurality of assisted guidance zones further comprise: a safe zoneassociated with a first behavioral guidance stimulation; an alert zonecircumscribing said safe zone associated with a second behavioralguidance stimulation different from said first behavioral guidancestimulation; and an out-of-bounds zone circumscribing said alert zoneassociated with a third behavioral guidance stimulation different fromsaid first and second behavioral guidance stimulations.
 8. The wirelesslocation assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the trainingand management of an animal of claim 7, wherein said plurality ofassisted guidance zones further comprise: a warning zone circumscribingsaid alert zone and circumscribed by said out-of-bounds zone, saidwarning zone associated with a fourth behavioral guidance stimulationdifferent from said first, second, and third behavioral guidancestimulations.
 9. A wireless location assisted zone guidance systemadapted to assist in the training and management of an animal, having acollar, a wireless collar location determination apparatus, at least oneanimal stimulation apparatus carried by said collar, a processor coupledto said wireless location determination apparatus and operative toreceive latitude and longitude information therefrom, memory accessibleby said processor, a human interface, and a plurality of guidance zonesdefined using said latitude and longitude information, each one of saidplurality of guidance zones having an associated unique set ofcharacteristics used by said processor to provide behavioral guidancestimulation to said animal through said animal stimulation apparatus,wherein the improvement comprises: a data table stored in said memory asa two-dimensional array having an axis of ordinates and an axis ofabscissae, a first one of said axis of ordinates and axis of abscissaecorresponding to longitude and a second one of said axis of ordinatesand axis of abscissae corresponding to said latitude; a plurality ofguidance zone values stored in said data table, with each guidance zonevalue stored in said data table identifying a one of a safe zoneassociated with a first behavioral guidance stimulation, an alert zonecircumscribing said safe zone associated with a second behavioralguidance stimulation different from said first behavioral guidancestimulation, and an out-of-bounds zone circumscribing said alert zoneassociated with a third behavioral guidance stimulation different fromsaid first and second behavioral guidance stimulations; said processoradapted to retrieve a guidance zone value from a unique location in saiddata table, said data table unique location defined by said receivedlongitude information corresponding to a first one of a data tableordinate and a data table abscissa and by said received latitudeinformation corresponding to a second one of said data table ordinateand said data table abscissa.
 10. The wireless location assisted zoneguidance system adapted to assist in the training and management of ananimal of claim 9, wherein said wireless location determinationapparatus, said processor, and said memory are local to said collar. 11.The wireless location assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist inthe training and management of an animal of claim 9, wherein saidprocessor is configured responsive to said retrieved guidance zone valueto select a single one of said associated unique set of characteristicsused by said processor to provide behavioral guidance stimulation tosaid animal through said animal stimulation apparatus.
 12. The wirelesslocation assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the trainingand management of an animal of claim 9, further comprising: a pluralityof tiles of two-dimensional data generated automatically by saidprocessor, each one of said plurality of tiles representative of aunique portion of a single map outer limit; wherein each one of saidplurality of tiles of two-dimensional data further comprises a referencelocation corresponding to a specific geographic latitude and longitude;and wherein said processor is adapted to operatively selectively load aunique one of said plurality of tiles of two-dimensional data into saidmemory responsive to reception by said processor of latitude andlongitude information from said wireless location determinationapparatus and responsive to comparison by said processor of saidreceived latitude and longitude information with said tile referencelocations.
 13. The wireless location assisted zone guidance systemadapted to assist in the training and management of an animal of claim12, wherein said memory further comprises volatile memory andnon-volatile memory, and only a one of said plurality of tiles is storedin said volatile memory at a time, while all others of said plurality oftiles remain solely in said non-volatile memory.
 14. The wirelesslocation assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the trainingand management of an animal of claim 9, wherein each position withinsaid data table stores a single one of said guidance zone values.
 15. Awireless location assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in thetraining and management of an animal, having a collar, a wirelesslocation determination apparatus local to and configured to generate acurrent latitude and current longitude of a current geographic locationof said collar, at least one animal stimulation apparatus carried bysaid collar, a processor local to said collar and coupled to saidwireless location determination apparatus and operative to receive saidcurrent latitude and said current longitude information therefrom,memory local to said collar and accessible by said processor, a humaninterface, and a plurality of guidance zones defined using said latitudeand longitude information, each one of said plurality of guidance zoneshaving an associated unique set of characteristics used by saidprocessor to provide behavioral guidance stimulation to said animalthrough said animal stimulation apparatus, wherein the improvementcomprises: a data table that is stored in said memory as adouble-indexed array, has a pair of indices, and contains a plurality ofguidance zone values stored within said data table; a first one of saidpair of indices corresponding to longitude; a second one of said pair ofindices corresponding to said latitude; individual ones of said guidancezone values stored in said data table identifying individual ones ofsaid plurality of guidance zones; said data table divided into aplurality of tiles of two-dimensional data; each one of said pluralityof tiles having a reference location corresponding to a specificgeographic latitude and longitude; said memory comprising volatilememory and non-volatile memory; said processor adapted to operativelyselectively load a unique one of said plurality of tiles oftwo-dimensional data into said volatile memory responsive to receptionby said processor of latitude and longitude information from saidwireless location determination apparatus and responsive to comparisonby said processor of said received latitude and longitude informationwith said tile reference locations while all others of said plurality oftiles remain solely in said non-volatile memory; said processorconfigured to retrieve a guidance zone value stored in said data tableat a single data table location defined by a first index valuecalculated by subtracting said tile reference location longitude fromsaid wireless location determination apparatus longitude information anda second index value calculated by subtracting said tile referencelocation latitude from said wireless location determination apparatuslatitude information and configured responsive to said retrievedguidance zone value to select a single one of said associated unique setof characteristics used by said processor to provide behavioral guidancestimulation to said animal through said animal stimulation apparatus.16. The wireless location assisted zone guidance system of claim 15,wherein said processor is configured to determine said first index valueby subtracting said tile reference location longitude from said wirelesslocation determination apparatus longitude information and is configuredto determine said second index value by subtracting said tile referencelocation latitude from said wireless location determination apparatuslatitude information.
 17. The wireless location assisted zone guidancesystem of claim 15, wherein said wireless location determinationapparatus, said processor, and said memory are local to said at leastone animal stimulation apparatus.
 18. The wireless location assistedzone guidance system adapted to assist in the training and management ofan animal of claim 15, wherein each position within each one of saidplurality of guidance zones defined within said data table stores asingle one of said guidance zone values.